Adobe has officially released Creative Suite 5.5, its high-end suite of applications covering such heavy weight products as InDesign, Dreamweaver, and Flash Professional. It’s worth noting that both Photoshop and Illustrator haven’t been updated with this new release, reflecting the mobile-orientated nature of this major update.

The latest version of the suite is targeted very much at smartphone and tablet developers, with improved Flash authoring sitting alongside HTML5 support for maximum compatibility. Despite Apple’s refusal to support Flash in its iOS devices, Adobe points to the tens of millions of smartphones that do support it as a reason for continuing to strongly support its development.

With the meteoric rise in popularity in handheld devices, it’s not surprising Adobe has focussed all of its energies in this 5.5 release on mobile development. HTML5 support is improved across the board, while InDesign 5.5 sees improvements geared towards developing tablet-friendly interactive publications with support for audio, video and other multimedia. Adobe is promoting the suite as perfect for Android, Blackberry and Apple iOS development with these and other new features.

Adobe has also introduced a new subscriptions option for those wishing to use its products, but who can’t afford the expensive one-off costs (Creative Suite 5.5 Premium costs $1,899 for new users). This monthly rental is available for both standalone products – Photoshop is available for $29 per month, for example – and suites.

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 is available for both Mac and Windows platforms, or users can opt for individual components, such as InDesign, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash Professional.